The nonprofit BRIDGES has promoted Tosca Nance-Jones to chief administrative officer, a new position within the organization’s leadership. Nance-Jones has worked with BRIDGES for the past eight years, first as director of community engagement and then as vice president starting in 2019.
For Nance-Jones, her proudest accomplishment with BRIDGES, so far, has been launching the Youth Action Center, which she describes as “a multi-dimensional space that enhances and expands youth leadership opportunities especially for youth in marginalized communities by creating partnerships with organizations in the community.”
The Youth Action Center, Nance-Jones adds, is “led by an intergenerational facilitation team. We want to harness that energy of the young people. They’re passionate, and they’re the driving force behind our success. That’s really my success.”
Once a youth activist herself with activist parents, Nance-Jones says, “I grew up understanding and knowing the value of community and civic engagement, and I’m fueled by restorative equity work. So, the unique thing about BRIDGES and what BRIDGES offers, it was a natural kind of alignment of my values. They offer the opportunities for youth to find a place for themselves.
“For those who are passionate about social justice and want to create solutions, or those youth who want to develop their leadership skills in areas that lead to entrepreneurship or developing their artistry, or if they just have a desire to connect with people and grow their problem-solving and communication skills to find their own voice, we have a place for them. We just provide the tools so that they realize the possibilities are essentially limitless for them. And I love that about BRIDGES.”
“It’s been an honor to be entrusted with this, as I say, responsibility,” Nance-Jones adds about her new position. “I firmly believe that collaboration is the key to success. I’m also eager to leverage the collective expertise of our teams, our staff, our young people, and promote a cross-functional collaboration and communication that has us constantly focused on improvement.”
Zahra Chowdhury, a Pleasant View School senior on the Benjamin Hooks Branch Council (Courtesy Zahra Chowdhury)
This summer, Memphis Public Libraries (MPL) has partnered with BRIDGES to assemble the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils, as part of an initiative to boost teen engagement and expand libraries’ teen programming. The councils consist of middle and high school students, who represent five branches: Benjamin L. Hooks, North, Poplar-White Station, Raleigh, and South.
“We wanted to have a group of young people who could speak for themselves as to what they wanted to have in those [teen-specific] spaces,” says Terrice Thomas, manager of South Branch Library. “We looked for applicants with leadership experience or leadership potential, willingness to be engaged in their community, and willingness to be outspoken and talk to people.” With this goal in mind, MPL reached out to the BRIDGES Youth Action Center, an organization already creating authentic youth leadership opportunities in Memphis.
“BRIDGES believes that youth have the answers,” says Mahal Burr, BRIDGES Youth Action Center director. “When adults intentionally seek young people’s perspectives in efforts to shape the city’s future, we create a more inclusive community. Youth-adult equity in decision-making spaces like our public library system also ensures the decisions we make that directly affect the lives of youth are better informed and more effective.”
Burr continues, “We are currently in the process of supporting the piloting of the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils’ in five branches but will be supporting the expansion of these councils to all branches within the next three years. … Youth who are involved in the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils will benefit from stronger libraries that better serve them.”
(Credit: Terrice Thomas)
The pilot cohort of 22 students has met weekly since June to discuss how the libraries can better support young people. They facilitated their own meetings with minimal intervention from library and BRIDGES staff, collected data from their communities about community needs and perception of the library system, and each council member received a stipend for their work. All of this effort culminated on August 5th in a presentation to the library staff, board, and funders. The students recommended solutions to a range of priorities, including transportation access, mental health services, community violence education, and financial literacy and career planning programs. A summary report can be found here.
Zahra Chowdhury, a Pleasant View School senior on the Benjamin Hooks Branch Council, says that her branch looked to improve intergenerational engagement through social media, adult-equity training, and youth-centered programming and spaces. “The libraries already have a wide range of programming and resources, but most young people don’t know or have never heard of them because they aren’t being actively advertised on the platforms youth use,” she says. The council also suggested that MPL host library tours and scavenger hunts to show “how libraries are more than just books,” not to mention how all the library’s programming and resources are free.
The Ben Hooks council, Chowdhury continues, also recommended programming around mental health through meditation and yoga classes or self-care and mindfulness journals, as well as educational support through ACT/SAT prep courses, peer tutoring, and a teen book club with discussions led by youth on books recommended by youth.
“We are still waiting to hear back from [administration] about feedback and what requests they can fulfill,” she adds, “but it was an amazing opportunity just to present to them and get their ideas on what the library needs to better engage young people.”
Thomas says that the administration is looking forward to bringing to fruition as many of the councils’ ideas as possible. Already, MPL is helping the Raleigh council with their initiative to have a block party this fall. “It’s great to see that the library is the opposite of what [the students] thought it was,” Thomas says. “Before they might’ve been like, ‘Oh, I thought the library was a place that wasn’t really for me, that people would be shushing me.’ But no, we want you here and we want you to be heard and express yourself.”
“Too often are young people offered a seat at the table but their voices go unheard or completely ignored,” Chowdhury says. “That’s why I am so grateful and appreciative that the MPL staff working with the youth council has continuously upheld the principles of youth and adult equity and are truly listening to what young people have to say.”
The end of the month marks the end of the pilot group’s term. MPL will start recruiting and interviewing for the next group of council members in September. This group will meet twice a month and will serve for the duration of the school year. To apply, students can go to memphislibrary.org.
Nike announced several large contributions it will be making to local organizations. The grants focus on programs that bolster education, economic empowerment, and social justice as part of its Black Community Commitment. BRIDGES
BRIDGES’ Downtown headquarters.
A partnership with the National Urban League has seen Nike pledge grants to organizations in seven cities, to the tune of $2.75 million. Four institutions in Memphis were selected as recipients.
RISE Foundation($75,000): The grant will go towards the RISE Foundation’s Save Up program, which is a matched savings account that helps low-wage workers manage their income, improve credit, purchase assets, or attend post-secondary education. A portion of funding will also boost the Goal Card program, which focuses on helping public school students understand financial and life goals.
Memphis Urban League($50,000): Funding from Nike will aim to increase capacity for the Memphis Urban League’s Save Our Sons program, which provides workforce and life skills training to juvenile detainees in the Juvenile Detention Center, the District Attorney’s office, or others that are participating in nonprofit re-entry programs.
BRIDGES ($75,000): Nike’s grant is geared mainly toward students in 8th-12th grades, and will help BRIDGES provide a platform for them to tackle social justice issues through community organizing, and promote diversity and equal rights.
Stax Music Academy ($50,000): Financial support will go towards expanding the academy’s capacity, allowing it to prepare more students for post-graduate success, whether that means pursuing a career in or outside the music industry. Every artist will learn the complexities and best ways to earn a living if they do decide to pursue music, in any capacity.
“We are thrilled to have the work of our Bridge Builders CHANGE program recognized with a Nike Black Community Commitment grant,” BRIDGES said in a statement. “This funding will support a diverse coalition of young leaders working hands-on to address racial inequality in schools, institutions and across our community. BRIDGES is grateful to Nike for investing in the future of youth-led social change and honored to stand beside our fellow Memphis grantees: Memphis Urban League, Stax Music Academy, and RISE.”
Because of the large number of public hearings on consolidation of governments and school systems, I have visited a few dozen forums in the last six months. And the message I bring to you, my fellow Memphians, is “I can’t hear you.”
At least not well. The acoustics in public and private facilities range from great to awful. As a patriot once said, I may not agree with a word that you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it so long as you say it clearly and limit your remarks to two minutes.
I am a little fanatical on the subject of clarity. My job depends on getting it right as far as “Jim” or “Tim” or “$5 million” or “$5 billion” or “6 p.m. Tuesday” or “6 p.m. Thursday a week from now.”
For several years I refused to get a cellphone for that and other reasons. But “call me on a land line” is no longer an option. So my typical conversation with friends, family, and newsmakers includes several “I’m sorry could you please repeat thats.” On an assignment for an out-of-town newspaper, I once had a conversation with an editor that went something like this:
Me on a borrowed cellphone with the wind blowing and truck engines whining in the background: “I am in Dyersburg and the police are saying the hostages are okay but there have been shots and they are still negotiating. What is your deadline?”
Editor in New York: “So ….. there are many dead … and shot in the head …. and no longer negotiating ….. … have given them a deadline … and your source is a sheriff named ZXXBXBDL! Can you have that for the early edition?”
Arun Gandhi moved his M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence from Memphis to Rochester, New York, earlier this year. But the move didn’t stop the peace-loving folks of Memphis from taking the reins of the center’s annual conference on nonviolence.
The fourth annual two-day conference is now called the Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking (it was previously the Gandhian Conference on Nonviolence), but the setup remains pretty much the same.
Attendees will hear speakers, such as hip-hop journalist Rosa Alicia Clemente and South African peace activist Nontombi Naomi Tutu, and attend workshops and panel discussions.
In partnership with the conference, BRIDGES PeaceJam will allow 300 high school students to participate in a special series of nonviolence workshops targeted specifically for youth.
Kids and adults will come together Friday night for a PeaceJam concert featuring the Tunnel Clones, belly dancers, gospel music, drumming, and more.
Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking, Friday-Saturday, October 26th-27th, Christian Brothers University. For more information, go to GandhiKingConference.org.
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